IJRC General Assembly Rotterdam

2019, Imagess, Stefano Secchi, IJRC General Assembly in Rotterdam, Eleonora Ottaviani 2019, Imagess, Stefano Secchi, IJRC General Assembly in Rotterdam, Eleonora Ottaviani

The latest General Assembly of the IJRC took place on 22 August in Rotterdam on the occasion of the European Championships. The Assembly covered the points on the pre-established agenda, dealing with the principle topics of interest in the world of show jumping:

  1. Opening, welcome and appointment of the Chairman of the day
  2. IJRC President’s Report
  3. Approval of Minutes from the General Assembly in Geneva 2018
  4. Nations Cup / Olympic situation
  5. Contamination / Stable Security
  6. Account’s situation 31.12.2018 and approval
  7. New IJRC Web site
  8. Report about FEI Jumping Committee by the Athletes’ representative
  9. Miscellaneous

The IJRC President, the IJRC Director, the IJRC Board, many IJRC members, the FEI representative, FEI President, FEI Jumping Director, FEI Jumping Committee Chair, National Federations President and Secretary General, chefs d’equipe, owners, international course builders and journalists all attended the IJRC General Assembly.

Points of major interest, stimulating debate between riders and the governing bodies, were:

1) The format of the Nations Cups;

2) New regulations and team format at the Olympic Games;

3) Contamination and Stables Security.

  1. Nations Cups: It is commonly believed that the Nations Cups represent the competition par excellence of the show jumping world and must be both protected and improved and the riders underlined their fully support.
  2. Olympic Games: The decision to run the individual competition before the team one and the team new formula, decreeing the formation of teams with only three riders, has stimulated perplexity.

The IJRC President Kevin Staut, at this point, explained that the riders’ disapproval and worries showed how much they are affected by the team format changes. It is now impossible to make any changes before the Tokyo Olympic games. The riders hope the format will be changed after the next Olympics.

  1. Contamination (41 cases in about 2 years) and Stable Security: for some time, the topic of contamination has been much debated among riders and represents an important problem with no easy solution. Connected to the issue of contamination is the need for more stables security and checks to limit the risks.

The meeting ended with the presentation of the balance of accounts for 2018 and the IJRC website's new look (www.ijrc.org), featuring an updated design and an array of easy-to-consult contents.

All those present, riders and governing bodies, even with sometimes different opinions, have at the end expressed their strong will to continue to work together with the common intention of improving our sport more and more.

Indeed the FEI President Ingmar De Vos underlined as the cooperation with the International Jumping Riders Club took to the sport many changes and improvements.

Athletes' Representative

Cian O’Connor has resigned as FEI Athlete Representative to the FEI Jumping Committee. O’Connor was elected as FEI Athlete Representative 2018-2022 in September last year, becoming Rodrigo Pessoa’s successor. The FEI Athlete Representative is also part of the FEI Athletes Committee, which is formed by representatives across all FEI disciplines.

The process to find a new candidate to the role as FEI Athlete Representative is already underway. IJRC Director Eleonora Ottaviani says: “It is not an easy task to find a new candidate, as it is required that they have taken part of one of the two last Olympic Games or the last World Equestrian Games. Furthermore, the right candidate should have enough time to take on this role. At the IJRC, we would prefer an experienced rider – possibly with a board background from the Club. 

©IJRC